Kuntoro blasts PLN for above-normal prices

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto has blasted state electricity company PLN for charging customers above-normal prices.

Kuntoro voiced his criticism Friday following reports that PLN increased power prices for many households by up to 300 percent starting last month, as against the government-set price increase of an average of 20 percent.

"If this (the extreme increase in power price) is a normal phenomenon, there must be something wrong in PLN's management," Kuntoro said.

"PLN should discipline its employees so that they work well and no clients are charged above the normal price," Kuntoro said.

Kuntoro added that PLN should be held responsible for the extreme power increase instead of accusing cooperatives or companies which were contracted by PLN to count the volume of power used by clients.

The government raised power prices by an average of 20 percent starting last month. The tariffs for households using between 450 volt-ampere (VA) and 2,200 VA increased by 38 percent and 40 percent.

According to the new tariff, households which use between 450 VA and 2,200 VA must pay a subscription fee of Rp 11,500 per KVA per month separate from a power utilization fee of between Rp 109,000 and Rp 149,50 per kilowatt hour (kwh) per month.

However, many PLN costumers claim their power bills have been raised by up to 300 percent.

On Thursday, dozens of residents of the Krembangan district, Surabaya, East Java protested the exorbitant price hike.

They said they had to pay PLN Rp 1 million last month, as against Rp 267,000 in the previous months.

Hizban, head of the PLN distribution office in the province, promised to investigate the exorbitant price increases.

"Maybe, PLN's employees made mistakes in counting the volume of power used," he said, reported Antara.

The government raised power prices in May by an average of 20 percent. It will further raise power prices by an average of 18 percent in August and 20 percent in November, to reduce subsidies for electricity from Rp 11 trillion to Rp 2.3 trillion for the current fiscal year.

The rupiah's sharp depreciation against the dollar since the middle of last year has left the company suffering more than Rp 500 billion in losses last year because it gets earnings in rupiah but pays 60 percent of its costs in dollars.

PLN has tried to reduce its dollar-based costs by asking independent power producers to renegotiate their dollar-based power purchase contracts, but none of the producers has given any response to the request.

PLN's president, Djiteng Marsudi, unilaterally annulled a power purchase contract recently with producer PT Cikarang Listrindo, owned by former president Soeharto's cousin Sudwikatmono, in an effort to break through the stalemate. But the move was opposed by Minister for the Empowerment of State- Owned Companies Tanri Abeng. (jsk)